New Soviet Legislation Further Restricts Religious Freedom

The Soviet government has recently enacted new legislation which imposes new and greater restrictions on religious freedom in the Soviet Union, according to the Greater New York Conference on Soviet Jewry.

The new laws require advance special permission for each occasion that a religious service is held in a private home. Permission would thus be needed for prayers in the house of a mourner or for circumcision ceremonies held at home, the GNY CSJ noted.

In addition, the registration of religious societies has been made more difficult; the right of appeal against expropriations of houses of prayer has been abolished and funds for the maintenance of religious societies–which could previously be solicited anywhere–must now be collected on the premises of the house of prayer.